Save Me (An Eddie Diaz 911 Fanfiction)

The Searchers

Looking at how far she had to go out to get the three men in the tree, Jane knew that she couldn't swim there. She was a strong swimmer. She'd ensured she was after she'd almost drowned, taking classes at the Y when she was a kid, even getting certified as a lifeguard to make money during the long summers in high school. Still, no one was a strong enough swimmer to swim against that current, let alone swim against it for over a hundred yards. She looked across the rooftop, which was empty, but these buildings were very old and very close together.

The shops only sat about three feet apart from each other. She could easily jump them, but she'd noticed that at least one of those men were pinned to the tree by debris. Although she couldn't see through the trees, she knew if that was heavy enough, it could be bad enough to require a back board. Then there was the question of how she could get off the roof and to the tree and back. She might, might be able to jump to the tree, but she couldn't depend that they'd be able to jump back to the roof. Certainly not with someone who needed a backboard. She had to figure it out.

Then, the obvious hit her. They were on top of a freaking surfboard shop!

"I'm going to help those men," Jane said calmly, leveling a look at Charlie. "You and your kids stay here. I'll be back and depending on the status of the roofs, I'll either be back to help you three over or I'll be bringing them back here."

"What?" Charlie's eyes widened in panic. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to improvise," she told the woman, although she was less than sure now.

She knew there would be plenty of surfboards down there. If she could get at least one or two, she'd have a way across the two other buildings and one of the boards could be used as a backboard if needed. Still, she'd need a way to fasten them down, and her best bet was to hope that she found enough ankle leashes down there to rig together to make some straps. It wasn't a great plan, but it was all she had.

So, she went over to the edge of the hatch they'd just climbed out of and looked down into the unforgiving water. She really, really didn't want to go down there. She squeezed her eyes shut, momentarily panicked, but the voices came again.

"HELP! HELP US!"

So, she opened her eyes up, and dove down. At first the sting of the salt water burned, but gradually her eyes adjusted, and she could see. Holding onto the back shelves, she leveled herself across the room and untied first one surfboard and then a second one. As they floated to the surface, she came up with them, gasping for air. Then, taking another deep breath she went down again. There searched until she found the rack of ankle ties. Jane was exceedingly thankful that this was a local shop that depended on quality. A lot of the online stores had thinner threads to secure the boards, but these were thick and sturdy. She grabbed at least half a dozen of the ten-inch cords and then pushed herself off the wall up to the surface. Swimming in long strokes now, she went to the first surfboard she found.

Gasping in air, she threw the cords on top and then used the board to balance, and paddle over to the second one.

"Charlie!" Jane called up the hatch.

Momentarily, Jane worried that the mother wouldn't be much help, but she was pleased to see the mom's face appear over the edge of the hatch. Her dark hair clinging to her head and her brown eyes wide and anxious. But her mouth was flattened into a determined line. She'd help.

"Here!" she held up the baggies first, "Take these cords and help me get these two boards up there."

Charlie did as she was told, and Jane was relieved that this excursion went a lot smoother than she'd feared. Now that the place was so full of water, it was less torrential. Still, Jane knew that was just a warmup because those currents were still violent between the buildings. Charlie helped drag everything up and then Jane came back up.